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It costs $17 to transport only one passenger from Syosset to Penn Station on every run. The unions are killing the railroad. Why do we have ticket punchers from the 19th century staffing every car? They all are heavily unionized, their pensions are outrageous and there was that whole scandal where they were double dipping into the Federal Railroad Administration's disability fund at retirement. Shameful!

It kills me to write a quarterly MTA tax check for my business when none of us utilize it. I loathe being slammed with an MTA surcharge when I register my corporate, personal and recreational vehicles. I despise being gouged to cross a bridge or use a tunnel -- each of which look like maintenance was minimal for so long.

Two of my friends have now relocated to UT. It looks better and better.

However, MTA officials emphasized that much of the LIRR's high operating costs can be attributed to "unfunded pension liabilities" the MTA inherited when it took over the 177-year-old railroad in 1965. The LIRR pays $106 million each year in pension costs out of its operating budget, and expects to have more retirees than active employees by the end of 2011, officials said.

This is sickening and a ridiculous way to run a so-called "business." If the MTA didn't have its hooks so deep into the taxpayers there would be no way this would be sustainable. But all they do is raise taxes, create new taxes that people who don't even use mass transit have to pay, and raise fares.

The public sector unions are eating us alive and becoming lifelong parasites. Exactly how much more do they expect to get out of us?

PS: I also think them blaming it on "unfunded pension liabilities from 1965" is completely bogus. Exactly how many retirees are still around that retired in 1965? A vampire or two? Even if we are counting retirees that were new hires in 1965 and are now retirees -- how many could actually be left?

Last edited by I_Love_LI_but; 04-07-2011 at 10:48 AM..
Reason: pension liabilities from 1965?

it's so funny that i watched a NAT GEO program on tree leave ants recently, the ants actually raid and abduct certain insects that can produce some sort of milk/honey that's food for the ants, but the most interesting part is the ants don't kill the insects, they actually protect them and feed them so the insects can continuously produce milk/honey

it seems the even the ants is smarter than the unions when it comes to "milking the system", i wish the union can watch the program and realize you can't just take, take, take without having a sustainable system

I just don't understand why the LIRR can't be run like the BART system out in Bay Area. Automate the whole thing. You enter a station, a ticket pops out and you enter the turnstiles. To exit a station, you pop in your ticket, pay what you owe, and the turnstiles release you.

It costs $17 to transport only one passenger from Syosset to Penn Station on every run. The unions are killing the railroad. Why do we have ticket punchers from the 19th century staffing every car? They all are heavily unionized, their pensions are outrageous and there was that whole scandal where they were double dipping into the Federal Railroad Administration's disability fund at retirement. Shameful!

Its not the Unions , its the backwards FRA rules and lack of upkeep on the Railroad thats leading to these issues. Its FRA rule that we have conductors for safety , which is a good thing because the LIRR and other railroads can be a bit wild overnight.

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